MTB in the alps - re-edit

Hello again all!
Last year I spent some time in the Vegas forum taking good advice from Stannard and Midnight on the salient features of the software. I created something like 16minutes of video from our mountain biking holiday in the Alps and the consensus was that it was great for the people that went, but too long for everyone else. I've finally gotten around to reducing it to a sub 4 minute film. It's better in some ways - more concentrated - but has lost some of the narrative and it feels like it hasn't gone anywhere relevant.
I'd like to use what it is at the moment to experiment with other effects, black and white, saturation, transitions etc, and would love some advice from anyone who thinks the video could benefit from a new twist on the presentation (not so much the edit). What do you think could be done with the video to improve its aesthetic quality? I'll be learning new skills in editing and vision from your advice so you'll probably find me sweating over an issue in the vegas forum after this

I agree that it does lack some of the narrative of the original but makes it much more watchable for the casual viewer. I'm not sure about the music being right for this piece, I would have thought something more up beat would have been better.

One idea I had that might work is using the shot at around 50 seconds. Doing a masking and muti-track you could create an effect similar to the example here at 25 seconds, leaving a trail of bikes through the air. Just one idea.

About halfway through I realised I was engrossed in the content. So not only were there no jarring shots or edits jumping out at me, I'd totally forgotten I was meant to be watching with my critical hat on!

So I'd say job done.

I'm not sure about the music either, but I mean that - I'm not sure rather than I think it was wrong. It certainly wasn't an obvious choice, but I found it quite hypnotic and combined with some of those shots of the bikes on very narrow raised tracks it put me in mind of the trance-like state one sometimes reaches when one's boy is automatically performing feats whilst one is almost watching as an outsider. (Have I become a bit too "hippy" here?)

I realise you want to experiment as an exercise, but I'd leave this well alone. What could any effects add? In my opinion as soon as you add effects to something which demonstrates a skill, you are actually detracting from that skill - you're placing doubt in the viewer's mind as to whether something is truly the rider's skill or it's been in some way computer generated or enhanced. There are exceptions to this an playing around with speed and Midnight's suggestion of a "trail" can actually help demonstrate the rider's skill, but other than that - I'd say no.

Hmm, I'm extremely glad you think this version is so much closer to achieving it's purpose! Even if I leave this edit as the 'best' edit, my skills with Vegas are limited to simply lining up shots on the time line and choosing the right transition so I'd like to see what else can be done.
If this is pretty much what I should be aiming for in Vegas - where do I go next to continue developing? My next goal is to use less hand held shots and get a better eye for for framing, but what about on the software side?

You should definitely aim to try a few projects which contain a mixture of live audio, dubbed audio, foley, interviews etc. i find it's much more difficult to edit the audio together, or edit such that the video fits the audio.

For example I'm working on a section where I have a perfectly good shot of a woman describing different ways funds are being raised for a project. She speaks perfectly clearly and was fluent enough for the "live" situation. However, as a piece for a recorded documentary, there are just too many hesitations as she considers what she's going to say next. I can easily make the audio far more listenable, yet still keep it "authentic" by carefully editing out much of the hesitation, but if I do that solely, obviously the accompanying video is full of jump cuts. So I have to use my imagination to discover ways of droppoing in cutaways or graphics which demonstrate what she's talking about.

On the FX side, spend time with the levels, colour curves and colour corrector tools to experiment with creating different "feels" (and to match one sequence with the next).

You should also aim to become familiar pan and crop and track motion. And masking!

Why not try to create a "Dallas" type title sequence? This will employ all three of the above and I find having a real project to apply techniques to is a far more effective way of learning than simply saying "I wonder what will happen if I move this parameter".

Yeah, I'd love to try multiple shots during an intro sequence, it might work for one of the jumps in this video where there's three angles - all could be produced together. The intro to this bike flick is a good example of it too.
Is it possible in Platinum or do you need the pro suit to do it? If so, then I'll learn that approach next

Your biggest issue with doing it in Platinum is that you don't have the Bezier mask feature. This basically lets you "draw" around a part of the video you want to keep, so you can superimpose it on another.
If all your "shapes" in your multi-frame are straight horizontal and vertical (as in the video you link to) you could do it with cookie cutter. If you need angled sides (per "Dallas") you'd have to create the mask in a graphics program and use that.
The other issue with Platinum would be the number of tracks. you'd need two for each "picture" (one for the mask and one for the picture) limiting you to five (although 10 images if using the cookie cutter method)
However, just getting to grips with doing it with thre images or so will provide good practice - and can be just as effective (the intro you linked to is great as an intro, but you wouldn't want to watch a whole film of it).

Go for it! I'm sure you'll be able to produce some pleasing results and you'll learn to control pan & crop and track motion at the same time.

After a thread about multi-layered shots, I've incorporated three varying frames to show a jump. I've also included a new shot I found which helps set the scene, but it's not as crisp as the rest. Anyway, it's not so different to the original but if your pedantic like me and interested in the effect small changes have upon the whole, you're in the right place.
It's the second one down of the two videos - the first is the original:One Loose Crank&#39;s mountain biking blog